The Flood Story
The tale of a devastating flood appears among the legends of ancient peoples throughout
the world. In some versions, the story of the flood serves to explain how the world came
to be. In others, the flood is heaven’s punishment for evil deeds committed by humans.
Using Primary and Secondary Sources
A PRIMARY SOURCE B PRIMARY SOURCE C PRIMARY SOURCE
The Torah
Only one man, Noah, found favor in
the Hebrew God Yahweh’s eyes.
And God said to Noah, “I have
determined to make an end of all flesh,
for the earth is filled with violence
because of them.... Make yourself an
ark of cypress wood.... And of every
living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring
two of every kind into the ark... they
shall be male and female. “...
The rain fell on the earth forty days
and forty nights.... At the end of forty
days Noah opened the window of the
ark... and... sent out the dove...
and the dove came back... and there
in its beak was a freshly plucked olive
leaf; so Noah knew that the waters
had subsided from the earth....
Then God said to Noah, “Go out of
the ark.... Bring out with you every
living thing that is with you.... I
establish my covenant with you, that...
never again shall there be a flood to
destroy the earth.”
The Epic of Gilgamesh
In this Mesopotamian legend,
Utnapishtim, like Noah, escapes a
worldwide flood by building an ark. Ea,
the god of wisdom, warns Utnapishtim
of the coming catastrophe in a dream.
O man of Shurrupak, son of Ubara-
Tutu; tear down your house and build
a boat, abandon possessions and look
for life....
I loaded into [the boat] all that I had
of gold and of living things, my family,
my kin, the beast of the field both wild
and tame....
For six days and six nights the winds
blew, torrent and tempest and flood
overwhelmed the world.... When the
seventh day dawned the storm from
the south subsided, the sea grew calm,
the flood was stilled; I looked at the
face of the world and there was
silence, all mankind was turned to clay.... I opened a hatch and the light fell
on my face. Then I bowed low, I sat
down and I wept, the tears streamed
down my face, for on every side was
the waste of water.
The Fish Incarnation
of VishnuThe Hindu god Vishnu, in his first
earthly incarnation, took the form of
Matsya, the fish, and saved humankind.
One day, as the sage Manu was
praying at the river Ganges, a small fish
asked for his protection. Manu put the
fish in an earthen jar, but soon the fish
was too big for the jar. So Manu put it
into the river, but soon it outgrew the
river. So Manu put the fish in the
ocean....
The fish told Manu there would be
a great deluge [flood]. He advised
Manu to build a large boat and take...
the seeds of various kinds of plants,
and one of each type of animal. When
the deluge came, the fish said, he
would take the ark... to safety.
Sure enough, when the deluge
occurred, the fish was there. Manu tied
the boat to the horns of the fish.... The
fish then pulled the boat through the
waters until it reached a mountain peak.D
Anonymous
This art dates from the fifth
century A.D. It shows Noah
and his ark in the Hebrew
flood story. In the picture,
Noah is welcoming back
the dove he had sent out
from the ark at the end of 40
days. The dove is carrying in
its beak an olive leaf.
PRIMARY SOURCE1.Based on Source A, what promise
does God make to mankind?
2.What are some of the differences
among the gods in Sources A, B,
and C?
3.What are some of the similarities
among the flood stories in
Sources A, B, and C?
4.In Source D, what is the dove
bringing to Noah and what might
it represent?
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